Move in with him
by Tess 4 5
Summary: Winston tells Barbara a secret and gives an advice. What will she make of it? A little something I had to write to get it out of my head.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's usual notes and disclaimer:** I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and solely own the ideas of _my_ stories and the developments _I've_ let them go through.

Please write a **P** rivate **M** essage if I did something terribly wrong so I can fix it. Thanks!

Please read and review! More thanks!

* * *

 **Author's note and summary:** Winston tells Barbara a secret and gives an advice. What will she make of it? A little something I had to write to get it out of my head. Enjoy...

* * *

 **.**

 **Move in with him**

 **.**

* * *

DC Winston Nkata had just returned from DI Lynley's office. He tossed a file onto DS Barbara Havers' desk and moaned in annoyance. She looked up from her task at the computer with a quizzical expression.

"You should move in with him!" Winston said.

Barbara frowned. "What?!"

"You should move in with Lynley."

"You are drunk."

"No, seriously, Barbara, I can't stand it anymore."

"What?"

"Didn't you recognise it?"

"You're talking in riddles, Winnie, _what_ should I have recognised?"

"He's tired. He's edgy. He's unbearable." Winston gave a short laugh. "Well, at least to us common humans, not towards you obviously."

"Constable, when you don't start explaining your crazy suggestion I'm going to report you!"

The Constable sighed. "For weeks he's taking care that you're safe."

"Safe?" Barbara had no clue what Nkata was talking about. It slowly became annoying.

Winston nodded his head. "At home. In your flat."

"Winnie...!" Barbara warned him.

* * *

"I can't believe you've recognised _nothing_." Winston plonked himself down on the additional chair next to Barbara's desk. He groaned and scratched his forehead with thumb and index finger. "It all has started when we've had these three murdered women. At first he only has secretly seconded a uniformed observation team - PC Stratton has revealed it to me, he had owed him a favour. But Lynley couldn't have sent them for longer without any explanations or without making it official. That's why he's started to have an eye on you himself after we've had the fourth woman lying on Lafferty's morgue slab. It all turned even worse when you were attacked by that pimp during the interview-"

"As if that hasn't happened before. From time to time it just-"

"...and your car had been scratch-marked with 'police bitch'-"

"Oh, please, Winnie!" Barbara rolled her eyes. "I've had the sign displayed. It _clearly_ was a police car! And it stood in front of a well-known disreputable dive bar! That's why I had insisted on taking mine when we drove there, and not his-"

"...and then that night when Marco had visited you. And even stayed there over night! Lynley's almost-"

"Marco's gay, Winnie!" Barbara snorted. She knew that the Constable knew that already.

"But Lynley doesn't know! Anyway, Barb, and even if you have a proper explanation why you weren't in any danger at any time - since all that had happened he has spent almost every night in his car in front of your house."

"No!" Barbara slightly blanched. With disbelief she looked at Winston trying to find out if he was mocking her. Recently she had recognised dark bags under small tired eyes in Tommy's face but she could not believe that he has kept watch over her sleep. Winston just nodded. "He hasn't." she whispered.

* * *

"Oh, yes, he has." Winston emphasised it with a distinct nod. "And he hasn't slept properly for nearly a month. That naturally has an effect on him. He's tired out. He makes weird decisions, he gives strange orders. He only barks and bellows his orders. You may not have recognised that, he never would do that to you. Of course not. But the mood among us others has reached a very low level under his harsh regime. This has to stop!"

"Why should he do that?" Barbara quietly asked.

"Stopping it?"

"No..." She looked to the ground. "Watching over me."

Now Winston stared at her. He could not believe that she really had asked it. "Are you that blind? Go ask yourself what's going on between you and the DI..." He shook his head.

 _Nothing!_ Barbara thought. _Unfortunately nothing..._

"That's stupid, Winnie. He's surely _not_ parking in front of my house! Yeah, it's true, after work he's brought me home a lot lately. Or picked me up in the morning. We're... good friends." Winston rolled his eyes indicating that he thought there was more to it. "But I've never seen his car parking anywhere near my flat."

"He's taken different cars from the pool." the Constable explained.

Barbara narrowed her eyes. "You've seen too many gangster films, Winnie."

* * *

Suddenly the door to Lynley's office went open. "Constable? Could you please come back into my office?" It was a polite sentence but there was no politeness in the DI's voice, Barbara recognised it now that she had listened closely to his tone. In actual fact his question was more an order that left no room for objections. "And quick, please."

Winston secretly groaned and heaved himself up from the chair. "Unbearable..." he muttered under his breath.

Several minutes later he returned from Lynley's office. Barbara, although a bit distracted by Winston's hints from earlier, still was working at her computer. Her colleague had a pile of manila folders in his arms when he walked past her desk. His face was grim and even angrier than before.

Barbara looked up. Winston checked his watch.

"I'll bring that down to the vice squad." He rolled his eyes and made a head shaking gesture towards the now closed office door. Barbara knew it was one of the DI's weird orders. There were other colleagues for these kinds of simple tasks. "He still has to work longer, he's said. I've told him that I'll bring you home safely after work."

Barbara rolled her eyes once more. "You don't have to."

"Fancy a pint then?" Winston already was on his way to bring the files to the office on the other floor.

She smiled. They had not been out together for quite some time now that Winston had a new girlfriend. A pint with him would be nice to catch up on things. "Yah, sure. At the Dragon?"

"No, I'll buy some cans on the way to yours. I'm a bit short of money recently."

* * *

After a long day at work they had bought a six-pack of small beer cans and two pizzas at the takeaway shop before they reached her home. It already was dark when Barbara opened her door. There was a quiz show on the telly and Barbara enjoyed the evening with her colleague very much. They guessed with the players on TV and laughed a lot.

"Another one?" Winston raised his empty can.

Barbara nodded. "It's darts, you idiot!" she shouted at the TV. Laughing Winston went to the fridge in the kitchen.

"A silver Peugot." he said when he had returned and handed Barbara the beer.

"Huh?" Barbara almost did not take her eyes off the screen where a young woman in a very short dress and with too much make-up was making a fool of herself. "She knows nothing. I wonder how she had come this far."

Winston grinned but ignored the show. "Tonight it's a silver Peugeot 206 and he parks in front of the untended front garden."

Now he had her full attention. "What?"

"Go and see for yourself." Winston slumped onto the sofa next to her and grinned even more. "You could wave hello to Lynley."

Confused Barbara looked at him. She still could not believe what Winnie had told her about their boss on his secret watch shift and she was tempted to go and have a look but then she decided it would be weird. "I don't believe you." she said shaking her head.

Winston got up again. "Shall we meet him?"

"Don't be stupid! Sit down!"

She commented on what was shown on TV making clear she would not want to talk about it any further. After the show they talked about this and that, the case with the murdered women, Winston's new girlfriend, and finally Barbara's secret passion for their boss, how Winston described it.

"It's eating away at you." he said.

"Bollocks!" she grunted. She was not admitting anything related to her emotions towards Lynley. And she surely had no crush on him. And she surely never would admit towards Winston that there was in fact a bit more that she felt for their boss.

Winston shrugged. "I know what I see. And in my opinion you should just tell him."

"Surely not."

Again Barbara changed the subject. She was not willing to talk about that topic with Winnie any more. She was not even ready to admit to _anyone_ what she really was feeling for Tommy.

* * *

Eventually Winston had left for home and Barbara prepared for bed. She brushed her teeth and stared at herself in the mirror above the sink. She put on her funny pyjama and pensively scratched her scars. Everything in her mind was related to Tommy and what Winston had told her about him. In the end she could not keep herself from finally peeping out of the kitchen window to see if there was the silver Peugeot with Lynley inside.

There was the car but she could not see anyone sitting in it. Shaking her head she turned off the kitchen lights and went to bed. Winston surely only had made his fun with her.

But what if not? What if Tommy really was sitting outside making sure that she was safe at home? Was it not a sign that he would not want to lose her? Or was he just being irrationally overprotective?

Barbara tossed and turned in her bed. She should sleep by now because she had to get up for work early in the morning but she still could not help but think about Tommy outside sitting in the car, yearning for sleep. She looked at her alarm-clock. It was shortly after midnight but she still could not sleep so she got up and had a glass of water before she tried it again. She had no such luck. Barbara could not get him out of her mind. When her alarm-clock told her it was one o'clock she pressed her pillow onto her face and loudly groaned her annoyance into it.

Finally she made a decision. She would go and check if Tommy really was in there and then she would ask him what this was all about. Maybe she also would find the courage to ask him into her flat. If he absolutely wanted to watch over her sleep he could as well do that on her sofa and get some rest. At a quarter past one Barbara got up from her bed and went to the kitchen without switching on the lights there. The dim light from her living room shining through the doors was enough to prepare two thermos cups of tea with milk, one with a lot and one with just a bit of sugar, just the way she knew he liked it. Then she got dressed in sweat pants and her coat over her night wear. Barefoot Barbara slipped into her soft boots, picked her keys from the bowl and left her flat.

Trying to appear unsuspicious she walked down the lane on her side of the street towards the untended front garden on the other. In fact there was the silver Peugeot and approaching it she recognised there actually was someone sitting in it.

Barbara crossed the street.

* * *

 **.**

* * *

 **...**


	2. Chapter 2

**.**

* * *

 **.**

* * *

Lynley was sleeping deeply. His head was leant against the headrest, his arms were crossed in front of his chest, his eyes were closed and his lips were slightly opened. Barbara could see him very clearly because he had left a crack open on both side windows so there was no water condensation.

She softly knocked against the glass. Tommy did not move. Carefully Barbara tried to open the passenger door and to her relief it was not locked. Making almost no sound and without shaking the car too much she slid onto the seat next to her boss. When she slowly pulled the door closed he stirred but did not wake up. He must have been horribly tired. Several moments Barbara just looked at him and thought about what was happening here.

Tommy looked so peaceful in his sleep. He surely had shaved before he had left his office because there was no scrubby shade on his face but the tired expression still was present even though he was asleep now. Feeling the need to soothe him Barbara was tempted to caress his smooth cheeks. Winston maybe thought she only had a crush on their boss but Barbara knew that she loved him dearly. She also loved him for idiotic actions like this. She could not help but smile.

"Sir?" she murmured.

"Mmh..." He did not wake up.

Barbara tried to raise her voice just a tad. "Tommy?" His name on her tongue, directly spoken to him and not just into the darkness of her lonely bedroom, tasted delicious. She could get used to it.

Tommy actually smiled but apparently still stayed sound asleep.

"Wake up, Tommy." Barbara was surprised how soft her own voice suddenly was.

Suddenly the smile had left his face and he woke up jerking. Confused looking at the woman in the passenger seat Tommy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Barbara?"

"No." she sarcastically replied. "Queen Victoria. Tea?"

* * *

"Thank you." When Barbara handed him the capped mug he thankfully took it. Their fingers brushed as if this was a silly screen romance and Barbara's hand trembled as if she was one of the protagonists but Tommy seemed to be oblivious to it. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"That's what I was about to ask _you_! You know, it's a bit creepy knowing you sitting here."

Tommy deeply sighed. He knew she would not believe anything but the truth. "I'm just trying to make sure you're safe." he quietly explained.

"Tommy, I-" Quickly Barbara averted his sudden, intense look when he heard his given name from her lips. "I'm a police woman. I know how to defend myself when... _if_ someone would dare to try to break into my flat, which is, by the way, highly unlikely."

"Well, it's just... You know, the four dead women..." Tommy pushed the unruly lock of hair from his face. Barbara cleared her throat. She still loved that gesture and it always made her slightly nervous. "...the attack in the interview room... and the demolition of your car..." Tommy shrugged. "...I just wanted..." He sighed again and stared into the darkness.

"I see." She sipped at her tea. This was no explanation but she kept it at that. Barbara knew he would speak in his own time. "But, well... it's a bit creepy, isn't it?"

For a while they just sat like that, both staring out of the front window into the darkness of the street.

"I've taken care of you for a while." Tommy suddenly admitted.

"I know. Winnie's told me." Barbara smiled. "He's followed you one evening. He's a good copper."

"Oh..."

"He's suggested I should move in with you." In the second she had said it she knew she should not have. "So you wouldn't have to spend your nights in the car."

Tommy turned his head and scrutinised her facial expression. She tried to hide behind her usual barrier.

"Well... would you?" he asked.

* * *

"It would make some things easier." Barbara shrugged and hid her face behind the rim of the thermos cup. She felt that her barrier did not work at that time of the night. And she felt heat creeping into her face. She could think of a lot of wonderful things that would become easier if she moved in with Tommy.

"That's right..." He deeply sighed once again. He had been able to put a whole range of possible interpretations into his words.

"Stop sighing, Sir."

"Tommy." Tommy even sounded a bit cheeky. Barbara turned her head and saw his eyes sparkling with joy and a certain something she could not decipher. It was the look he seldomly gave her but he only gave it to her and nobody else. She loved this look and feared it all at once. It excited and confused her every time he blessed her with it. A small smile stole itself into her face and she wiggled her head.

"Stop sighing... _Tommy_!"

He nodded and kept his eyes locked with hers. "I'm tired." he quietly confessed.

"Then why don't you go home and have some sleep?" she tenderly suggested. Again her voice betrayed her by revealing too much of the secret affection she felt for the man in the driver seat.

He did not answer. After several moments of thinking and looking at Barbara Tommy suddenly started the engine of his car.

"I will. And you're coming with me." He manoevered out of the parking space. "Seatbelt, Sergeant."

Without thinking about it Barbara buckled up as usual. "Don't be ridiculous, Tommy!"

"You move in with me tonight." he simply said. It was no suggestion and not even a question. It was a firm statement that sent a shiver down her spine.

"I won't!" They passed her flat.

"It would make some things easier." he explained.

Barbara gave a short laugh. She knew a lot of things which would become easier but she did not expect Tommy to think of any of these.

"Which are?" she asked.

* * *

Tommy deeply inhaled and turned his car into the next broader street. "First of all, me declaring that I can't live without you and wouldn't bear if anything happened to you. I could watch over you _every_ night and without spending my nights in the car. Second, while I'm at it, I can as well tell you that I love you. That I have for too many years and that I'm tired of hiding it. I intend to say it in the romantic setting of my dimly lit living room. Maybe with a crackling fire?"

Barbara swallowed. Somehow she was afraid of where this was headed but on the other hand, what he just had revealed to her was similar to what she was feeling herself. In fact, as tired as she was herself, she also felt a bit adventurous.

Tommy overtook a lorry in the roundabout where they left her quarter.

"Third, since I'm still in the flow, I can also ask you to marry me. I wouldn't do it in the car and I'd need to kneel down. The carpet in my living room would just come in handy. We would live in one household of course. And fifth..."

"Fourth." Barbara automatically corrected him even though she only had listened in a pleasant state of shock and her mind was not really able to process what he seriously was talking about. Her heart on the other hand had accepted it already.

"Sorry..." He nodded. " _Fourth_ , I am horribly tired and want to go to bed. I have a huge one with a soft mattress and billions of pillows."

Barbara blushed a bit. They passed the huge construction site near the park and she wondered what had made her so untypically speechless.

"Fifth, I only want to fall asleep with you in my arms." Tommy's voice had turned soft now. Again he sighed. "Everything is easier when you are with me. That's why I'd like you to move in with me tonight."

"But Sir, I'm still in my pyjamas under these sweat pants, I-"

"How convenient." Tommy cheekily grinned and gave her a brief look.

It made her flesh creep. Blushing again Barbara turned her face away to hide her smile. This conversation was weird but also a bit exciting, she silently admitted to herself. And obvioulsy she could not think of any reasonable objections.

On the street ahead, they were just entering Belgravia, a red light showed up for the right-turning drivers. Tommy brought the car to a halt. He turned to Barbara who was looking at him again.

"Well?" he asked.

* * *

"Yes." she blurted out. Then her eyes grew wide and she nervously laughed too loud. Barbara shrugged her shoulders and diverted her eyes out of the front window, still a broad grin displayed on her face. There was a bubble of happiness in her belly that was about to explode and she could as well think about the details of her adventure when tomorrow morning comes. "Well, apparently yes." she repeated quieter.

"Barbara?"

She turned her head to face him again.

"I know from experience that this light has a rather long red phase."

"Meaning?" Her voice trembled slightly. His hand was leisurely lying on the gearstick and his index finger softly stroked her thigh.

"When I'm allowed to kiss you - and we'd have a few minutes for that - you should move a little closer and meet me halfway." There was a certain new affection in his voice and an unknown fire in his eyes. And his voice was seductively low. It was like honey. "I'd be very pleased."

In that moment Barbara knew that Tommy had meant every single word he had said. She knew they would not hurry things the way he had pictured them but she definitely knew she was going to stay at his home for tonight. And no matter what would follow any time later she definitely was going to kiss him now.

"Well, that would make a lot of things easier." she murmured.

Leaning forward Barbara turned to him completely and Tommy bent over to her. He gently placed a warm hand on her neck and caressed her cheek.

"This is crazy... Tommy." she quietly said. In reply to his touch she put a soft hand on his arm and tenderly squeezed it.

"It is." he answered. "But I don't care."

"Me neither." she breathed onto his lips.

The way they sat there was slightly uncomfortable but they both did not care about that either. Their kiss across the gearstick of his car was cautious at first but it soon turned into a soothing and desireful exchange of caresses.

It was a promise for a fantastic night. And it lasted for another red phase on the street light he knew so well.

* * *

 **.**

* * *

 **.**


End file.
